Oregon Campout Quilt

This post is a long time coming like all my others, but I figured its not too late since the camp out hasn't happened yet! ;D

This year the sisters here in Portland made the quilt! The Brownsville sisters were running out of ideas, so we made it for them. We did send it down for them to quilt. I think I'm the only sister here who knows how to quilt, and I just don't have time to do it.

Anyway, I really enjoyed getting together and working on the quilt. We really enjoyed each other's company. We had some nice visits and lots of laughs as we dealt with the unavoidable problems that are bound to happen when you take on a project this large. Most of the time we got together at my house, and I really enjoyed having everyone over.

Here are just a few pictures I took. Sadly, I didn't think to take more throughout the quilt making!

My Mom has a Blog!

Just wanted to let everyone know that my mom has a blog. She is on my list of blogs. I think that she will have to invite you to view her blog. I'm not sure. If you can't connect to her page and want to be invited you can comment me your email address so she can invite you. I either accept or reject your comments; so I can just reject the one showing your email after I get it so no-one else sees it. I'm sure she would love to have some "friends" to read her blogs and leave comments.

Christian

Blah! Again, it has been WAY too long since I have blogged! Christian's Birthday was quite a few months ago and I never did a special blog just for him. I decided not to blog about his Birthday, but here's a blog just for him!


I look at my first baby and I'm amazed at how much he's grown! I've always suspected he'll be built like his Daddy, but it's becoming more and more evident. It seems like we just bought him new pants, but they are already getting too short for him!

Christian is 8 now, and he really is a good kid. He's very helpful around the house, and good at his schoolwork. He seems to get along well with other kids. He will still accepts hugs from his
Mommy! (Even though he does act a little embarrassed about it). What more could a Mom ask for?

Since Christian is getting older, I've started worrying about the stages in life that are coming up for him. I worry about having the right type of relationship with him so that he feels he can come to his Dad or me with questions and concerns he may have. I'm worried that because he requires so much less attention than the other kids, that we give him less attention. I want to try to give him more attention, and let him know how much we appreciate his helpfulness.

In school, Christian's favorite subjects are Math and Science. I think that being good at these subjects could be really good for him when choosing a profession someday.

Christian is such a good help to us; sometimes I worry that we expect too much out of him. At the same time, I am proud of how responsible he already is.

My Baby's 1st Birthday/haircut

Matt didn't want to cut Zaccheus' hair, but I finally just did it! As you can tell from the before picture it was just way to long for a boy! Here is a before and after picture (I guess it's after and before). It doesn't seem like we waited this long with any of our other boys to cut their hair, but I don't remember for sure. He sure is cute though, isn't he!!!!!

Once again this posting is very late. It has been hard to find time to post. I know that is always my excuse, but it is always true. The past few weeks Matt has been working out of town a lot. We are VERY thankful for the work, but it is harder taking care of all the kids without him!

Anyway, Zaccheus turned one. Honesty it has been so long ago since his Birthday I don't remember who all was there, but there were quite a few that came over to celebrate with us and eat some cake and ice-cream. Zaccheus had his own little lady bug cake that he made a mess with. By the time he was done he was actually crying because he was getting frosting in his eyes! I put him straight into the bathtub after that. After getting all the frosting off I felt so sorry for the little guy. His skin was all splotchy and red. He has very sensitive skin and he was having a reaction to the frosting, poor little guy! If anyone has advice on what kind products are best to use for sensitive skin please let me know. (things such as shampoo, laundry detergent, lotion, etc.)

Zaccheus started walking at about 13 months, which is pretty close to the time my other kids started walking. Maybe because we have stairs and he learned how to climb them at a pretty early age; he is now an expert climber! He climbs down the stairs very well (Which is a relief, since I don't have to worry so much about him falling), but he also climbs onto the table, and pretty much anywhere he can get to! Yesterday morning he made quite a mess with some unfinished cereal bowls that is dear siblings left on the table!

Zaccheus is still very even tempered. There are times I get frustrated with his climbing, and getting into things, but he is very good. Even when he's not feeling good he's not too fussy. He gives sweet little baby kisses sometimes, and it's so wonderful when he puts his little arms around me and pats my back! I've even noticed when the other kids are crying that he goes over and tries to comfort them. He has been having some separation anxiety. When our other children were his age we left them with Grandma's to babysit fairly often, but not so much with Zaccheus; so he gets pretty upset when we leave him. It's nice to know he loves me, but I feel sorry for the babysitter!

Well, I've got lots to do; so that's it for now! I sure do love my baby!

Holiday Pictures

Garrison opening one of his gifts at home.
Anthony excited about opening his present from Gramma.

Daddy helping Zaccheus with his present from Gramma.

The cozy crowd in Gramma's living room.

A picture from the Brownsville Sister's party.

My crazy hair for Sis. Marisela's party (I won the prize by the way!)

Christian & his cousin Dale got the same thing from Gramma.

Ruby trying on her gift from Uncle Joel & Aunt Mary.

My Crazy Happy Holidays

Christmas time is always kind of crazy. We had quite a few different celebrations. One weekend we had a Christmas party with the Brethren here on Saturday at Bro. Sean & Sis. Marisela's. It was really fun. We were supposed to dress up crazy; so I went all out and fixed my hair crazy and everything. I don't have a picture of it when I had the ornaments and everything in it because I forgot my camera, but I had Matt take a picture of it after we got home. Sis. Marisela has the better pictures of everyone in the get-ups!



Anyway, on the same weekend we went to Brownsville on Sunday so that I could go to the Sisters Christmas party. It was nice to have an evening with the sisters to visit and exchange gifts. We had drew names ahead of time. I had Ashley, and it turned out she had me! We also did the white elephant gift exchange. We had the party at a Chinese restaurant. I had a really good time.



The weekend before Christmas we went to Bro. Lee & Sis. Sabriena's wedding. It was a nice little personal ceremony. We were so glad we could be there to share in their joy and see the different brethren who came.



My Uncle and Aunt came to visit for a few days after the wedding. I really enjoyed the time we got to spend with them. They even babysat for us one evening so we could finish up our Christmas shopping, and then we did the same for them (even though their children are older, and didn't really need babysat) They had gotten gifts for us; so we had a little "Christmas" one evening with them.



We didn't really know until the last minute where we were going for Christmas, but we ended up going to Brownsville. We opened all of our gifts ahead of time so weren't hauling them with us. On Christmas Eve the McManus clan gathered at Gramma Linda's house and all the kids opened gifts from her. It was a very full house!!! We spent the night at Gramma's house, along with Bro. Brian & Sis. Michelle & their kids. The kids opened their stockings in the morning, and then we had Christmas dinner at Bro. Marshal & Sis. Connie's house. We spent the day there eating, visiting and playing games.



Saturday morning we took the kids up to my Grandpa's house to visit for a couple of hours, and then we had a Christmas party with my family for lunch. We gave out our gifts, ate and played games.



There were quite a few at church in Brownsville on Sunday. About half went to Bro. Marshal & Sis. Connie's to eat and the other half joined us at Gramma Linda's for haystacks. We had a very busy, but enjoyable Christmas weekend.



New Year's Eve was on a Thursday this year (which is our church night). After church Bro. Rusty & Sis. Mary invited everyone over for snacks & games to wait out the new year with our Brethren. I had a good time. We had Bro. Lee & Sis. Sabriena spend the night with us so they wouldn't have to travel home that late. It was nice to have them over and get to fix breakfast for them and visit with them in the morning.



Sunday we had a Birthday celebration for Zaccheus, but I will make another more detailed blog about that.



All in all we really enjoyed the Holidays, but it was kind of crazy busy! My house and I are still not fully recuperated from it!



I think what I will do, is I will make another post with some pictures from our Holidays.



I hope all of you enjoyed the Holidays and have a wonderful New Year!

My little 3 year old

As always I am late getting my postings up. For those of you who know, Garrison's Birthday is old news! I thought about just skipping blogging about it, but I wanted to do this post about him. We didn't really do anything really special for his Birthday. His cousins from Brownsville were able to be there so that made it a little more special. Here is a picture of some sunglasses that his cousins gave him for his Birthday! He looks very cool...

Here he is showing us how old he is.

Garrison is definitely 3! He has really hit a difficult stage in life. There's times when he wants to do things for himself and he throws a fit if you try to help him; then there are other times when he wants you to help him and throws a fit if you don't! We've really been struggling trying to find the balance with him and his fits. We don't want to go too easy on him so that he won't throw fits, but we don't want to be too hard on him either. As each of our children grow older we've really seen where we need to be so careful and seek the Lord in how to deal with each of them in the right way.

Garrison can be so loving sometimes. There's pretty often that he'll come up to me for no reason and give me a hug and say "I like you Mommy." It just melts my heart when he does this. There's times when I ask him to do little jobs for me and he's so proud of himself when he does it! He's also been showing his McManus side! He likes to do funny things and make people laugh. The kids have been on a joke kick lately! Here is one of Garrison's favorites:

"Knock Knock"

"Who's there?"

"Why did the bear cross the road?"

"I don't know, why?"

"Because it was the chicken's day off!"

And this is where I make a point to laugh hysterically!

Garrison, Mommy loves you and she hopes that she can be a good Mommy and help you to grow up to be a wonderful man!

Another Miracle!

I wanted to share a wonderful little miracle that God saw fit to bless us with:

The check engine light has been on in our van for a few months now. We haven't been able to afford getting it checked out, and we hadn't really had problems with it; so we just got used to seeing it on. Last week, I think it might have been on our way home from church on Thursday, the van was acting funny and it actually died at a stop light. Matt was able to start it right back up, but it was acting very sluggish. We were very close to home, but I was worried that we wouldn't make it. I told the kids to pray that we would make it home.

Our van was waaaaay overdue for an oil change. I wondered if somehow this had contributed to the engine trouble. I told Matt that we were going to have to spend the money to get the oil changed. I had a coupon for a place and I made an appointment to get the oil changed on Saturday. When I went in, they ended up being behind too much; so they had to bump my appointment to Tuesday (today) I found out that they could diagnose the check engine light for no charge so I planned to have it checked out today when I went in.

We drove the van to church on Sunday, and Matt and I both drove it around yesterday with no real troubles. On my way to get the oil changed I was thinking about how I was going to have them check out why the check engine light has been on. I looked down on the dashboard AND THE LIGHT WAS NOT ON ANYMORE! I almost cried with relief! I had been praying so hard since our problems Thursday night. I had no idea how we would pay for van repairs. That light had been on constantly for months! And now, since we have actually been praying about it, it has just turned off. I do not think that this is a coincidence! There hasn't been problems with the van acting sluggish anymore either. When I told Matt about it, he said that the light had been on yesterday. I'm just so glad that God has done this for us. I just didn't want to fail to give credit where credit is due!

Diligence

diligence: persistent and hard-working effort in doing something.



Sunday morning we seemed to have a little bit of time left, and I thought it would be good if I read the children a chapter in the Bible. I just read the chapter where my bookmark was. I always neglect my Bible reading, but it always amazes me how when I do decide to pick up my Bible and read I always read just what I need to.



I know we've all heard and read this scripture many times, but I was glad to be reminded.

II Peter 1:4-11

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge;

And to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness;

And to Godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity.

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

The word diligence is what really caught my attention. It is mentioned twice in this scripture. Lately I have known that I have not been where I should be spiritually. I believe it is this diligence that is missing. I feel like I have been barren and unfruitful. Because of this lack I can see where I haven't been able to see afar off. I haven't been able to see the big picture. I don't want to forget how empty and lost I felt before coming into the faith, and then the great thankfulness I felt when God drew me in. I want to make my calling and election sure that I could have a place in that everlasting kingdom. I want to be a partaker of this Divine nature so that I can escape the corruption that is in the world. I don't want my short sightedness because of my lack of diligence to keep me from making Heaven my home. I have not been working hard at living the faith, and I really need prayers that I could have this diligence that I know is required of me.

Anthony's First Day of School

My little Anthony started Head Start preschool this year. Out of all my children Anthony is my challenge. He seems to have a different thought process or something. It's been hard figuring out how to deal with him sometimes. I was hoping that going to school might help him. After almost 2 months of school I really think I can see a positive change in him. Here are some pictures of him on his first day of school.

This is a cute picture of him and Garrison we took while we were waiting for the bus.

There he is getting ready to get on!

Here's one of himself by the tree. Daddy did the hair spiked hair-do!

He was pretty excited!

It was kind of nice that Daddy could be there for his first day of school. This is usually something he misses out on.

So far I haven't really noticed any academic improvement in him. I think right now they are mostly working on things like manners and socialization. Anyway, I'm really glad that Anthony made it in. I really think that it's good for him. I went to a head start meeting last night. It showed that in the Portland area there were 566 kids that were in Head Start Pre-school. There are 300-400 kids still on the waiting list! I'm very thankful that he got in!

Life's Potholes

I'm not exactly sure what caused me to think of him; but as I was sitting in meeting Thursday night I remembered a boy I went to school with. His name was Johnny, he was older than me, but he was simple minded. I remembered how it always seemed like he was happy, and nice to everyone, even those who made fun of him. It seemed like he saw the world differently than most people.

Johnny rode on my bus. I was remembering how there was one really bad pot hole that the bus would go over every day. It was so bad that it really bounced us all around, even though the bus driver tried to go over it carefully. Johnny got to where he remembered that pothole. He knew where it was and he would get ready, and then when the bus would go over the pothole he would jump up and exaggerate the bounce. It got to where a lot of the kids on the bus would copy him, and the majority of us would jump up when the bus hit the pothole. It still brings a smile to my face to remember it. He would say "get ready every body"! And then we would all jump together! I'm sure there were a lot of people that got frustrated at that pothole, but because of Johnny we all looked forward to it! It was the best part of our bus ride! (Of course there were quite a few times that we all got overzealous and the bus driver had to get on to us!)

I thought about the potholes of life. The different obstacles that come our way. I look at our life so far, and it doesn't really seem like we've had to endure any really huge trials yet. Mostly just annoying potholes. I would like to have Johnny's outlook and see the joys instead of the frustrations. When I really look at the different problems I have, and all the blessings, I know that the blessings far outweigh the problems. For some reason I've noticed that I dwell on the negative more than I dwell on the positive. I want to have that happy, joyful outlook on life. I want to be able to see the silver lining, especially when I know that my clouds are really more silver lining than storm clouds. I would like to be able to jump with my potholes, and enjoy the blessings rather than get irritated and frustrated at every little thing that doesn't quite go my way.

Thank the Lord for Remembrances

Last night I was laying in bed. For whatever reason I couldn't go to sleep. I was laying there with all kinds of things going through my mind. I told myself that if I couldn't go to sleep I should at least think of good things. I lay there remembering how in meeting Bro. Jerry (who was visiting our assembly) started the song "Jesus Reigns". That song always reminds me of Bro. Benny. He also started "When the Saints go Marching in" which reminds me of my Dad. Then I got to thinking about how certain things remind me of certain people. I remember last week I made cinnamon rolls. I got the recipe from a certain sister who is not doing good spiritually now. I thought and prayed for her the whole time I was making the cinnamon rolls. Then I remembered how every time I make homemade noodles it reminds me of Sis. Cindy. Shortly after I was married she gave me the recipe and showed me how to make homemade noodles. She said "Every sister ought to know how to make homemade noodles"!

Somehow my thoughts strayed to the scrap quilt I made for my brother. I know that the many hours I spent on it I thought of him, and prayed for the different struggles I knew he was going through at the time. He wasn't baptized yet, and he wasn't living at home; so I was kind of hoping that somehow the quilt could be there when he was baptized since I knew I probably wouldn't get to be there. That reminded me of my "baptism blanket"...

The night I was baptized my mother wrapped a certain blanket around me. It was just a plain blanket; nothing special really, but from that time on it was my own personal blanket, and I used it all the time and took it with me everywhere. One year at the Colorado camp-out I was at a baptism of a young man that I had known for a long time. I had brought my blanket to the waters edge with me, and ended up putting it over him after he came out of the water. I told him how it was my blanket from when I was baptized and how maybe someday he could pass it on to someone else. Sometime after that I talked to him again, and he told me that he had passed it on to someone else. I laid in my bed last night wondering where all that blanket has been. I thought it would be neat if I saw it again somewhere unexpectedly. I thought about how maybe I will make special quilts for each of my children to drape over them when they are baptized. (If it works out that way.) My brother's quilt didn't make it to his baptism, but that's ok.

Anyway, I was thankful for my wondering thoughts as I lay on my pillow last night and thought I would share them with you all. Do any of you have certain things that remind you of certain people? As I lay there remembering all this I hoped that if people remembered me from time to time that it was good things they thought of.

Zaccheus Pictures

I decided that it's been a long time since I posted more recent pictures of Zaccheus; so here they are...

In the wagon with his big brothers!Everyone comments on his bright blue eyes!
Yes, he climbs the stairs on a regular basis now. This was taken when he first started.

You can see all his teeth! He has 5 teeth, and for some reason hasn't gotten any more for a few months now. Five seems like kind of an odd number. Usually they come in pairs. Oh, well, I'm sure they will all be here soon enough!

This is a picture of his first couple of teeth. He did like his big brother Garrison, and they came in opposite of each other.

I just love his beautiful smile!

I love pictures like this of him with his Papa!

All About Ruby

Well, I've noticed how some of you give a whole post dedicated to your child when their Birthday comes along. I'm such a follower that I've decided that would be a good idea! I'm going to try to do this to. Considering that Ruby's Birthday was over a month ago, I'm not doing to well! Let me tell you a little about my one and only girl and then you can look at all the many pictures of her that have been piling up for the last couple of months just waiting for me to post them on my blog!
Ruby is now 6! She's already started losing her teeth. When her first tooth was loose Matt had us rush to Wal-Mart to get her picture taken before she started loosing them. He was worried she would look funny. I think a child with missing teeth looks cute! Anyway, here is her most recent professional picture (pre-tooth gaps). Sometimes Wal-Mart pictures are kind of mediocre, but I think they did a pretty good job.

These pictures aren't in order; so I guess I will tell you about her Birthday first and then her first day of school, even though it really happened the other way around. We didn't do anything really big, we just had some people over for some cake and ice-cream. I made the cake. We only got her one gift because it was really BIG! (and expensive). Sadly I don't have a picture of her with her new dog biscuit, but here she is opening the gift. You can imagine by the size of the box how big the dog is.

She wanted Biscuit for Christmas last year. When we saw that he cost $180 we sadly had to tell her there was no way we were going to be able to buy her Biscuit! Biscuit is a life sized, I believe Golden retriever, He is mechanical and has certain commands that he hears or feels and he will do them. He is very neat, but definitely not worth that much money for me, even to please my daughter! A month or so after Christmas last year Matt found one lonely little biscuit on clearance at Target. I believe he was 75% off. He was still pretty expensive, but we decided to buy him! He has been stored up in our attic ever since then waiting for Ruby's Birthday! She loves him!

Here she is posing by her gifts!

Getting ready to light the candles.

Since Ruby started school I've been consulting that web-site for new hair ideas. I've tried out quite a few of them, sadly I haven't taken very many pictures, but here is a few pictures of one particular hairstyle that I tried. It's similar to a french braid, but you only take hair from the bottom. This makes the braid kind of stand out, and it makes the hair on top flatter.

For this time they had me take the braid all the way around. Since then I have done 2 braids from each side, and then continued to braid them for a ways, then connected them together with a rubber band. I liked this way better, but I don't have pictures of it.

Ruby never went to pre-school. This year she is in Kindergarten, and she really likes it! She is in afternoon Kindergarten. She catches the bus in the mid-morning and then rides home on the bus with Christian in the afternoon. Anthony is actually in pre-school this year. He goes in the afternoon too. So for a couple of hours in the afternoon I only have 2 children. It is very nice!

Here is Ruby getting on the bus for the first time!

Look at that adorable gap in her teeth!

Here she is all dressed up in her new school clothes, and back-pack waiting for the bus:

Ruby is only 6, but she is a pretty good helper. I think she does a pretty good job of being Mommy's only little girl! There are times that she whines about the chores I ask her to do, but when she does them she is a big help to me. She is showing signs of wanting to help me cook. I've been trying to find ways to introduce her to cooking, and helping me in the kitchen that are appropriate for her age, and not too hard or dangerous. It is easier to just shoo her away and do it myself, but I want her to learn the things she should learn. I know I should take advantage of her eagerness now because in a few years she might not be so eager. I just pray that I can be the Mother I should be to her; so that she can grow up to be the woman that God would want her to be.

Can We Have Two Daddies?

Today I was driving down the road with just Anthony and me in the van. This doesn't happen very much; so we were taking the time to visit with each other. He asked me if I told him he was cute when he was a baby like Zaccheus. I told him that he was a very cute baby and that I did tell him he was cute. Then I told him that someday he could be a Daddy and have baby's of his own. He spoke up and asked me "Can we have two Daddies?" I was slightly alarmed, and told him that we could only have one Daddy at a time. He started crying! It took me a little while (sometimes it's hard to figure out a child's thought process), but I figured out that he was upset because he thought that him and his Daddy could both be the Daddy of the house at the same time. I explained to him that when he was a Daddy he would have his own wife and kids and that he would live in his own house. He started crying harder! He said he didn't ever want to be a Daddy because he didn't want to live somewhere different from us. I swiftly told him that he didn't ever have to be a Daddy and that he could live with us forever! That made him happy!

It's nice to know that he will stick around to take care of us in our old age. ;D I will probably have to remind him of this conversation in about 15 years!

I Found a Great Blog!

My little Ruby is starting Kindergarten this year. She's very excited! I'm excited for her too, but a little nervous...

I want her school experience to be a good one. One of the things I've been worried about is coming up with some cute hairstyles that will actually STAY cute during school! It seems like most days you can't even tell that I fix her hair!

Anyway, I googled hairstyles for girls, and stumbled upon this great blog! This woman has, I think 4 girls, and she mostly uses this blog to give you step by step instructions for different hairstyles! I put her blog on my list of blogs at the edge of my page. I plan to read her blog often, and also read her archives to get some great hairstyle ideas! I know that a lot of you have girls with long hair, and it's so hard to come up with new things. I just thought I would let you all know about this blog! Her blog is called "Adopt a 'Do- Cute Girls Hairstyles"

Laughter IS the best medicine...

Lately I have been going through a rough time. When I step back and look at what I've been going through it really isn't that bad; but it has been really hard for me emotionally. Let's just say life has not been going the way I think it should and I've been very frustrated!

Last night after all the kids were in bed, Matt and I were going to bed like any normal night. I can't even remember now how it got started, but one of us said something that we thought was hilarious! After that we kept laughing, and laughing over stupid stuff. We were literally rolling around on our bad cracking up! I had tears rolling down my face I was laughing so hard; and we just couldn't stop! We were trying to be quiet because the baby was asleep in our room, but it felt so nice to just let go and be silly together!

After we finally calmed down and said our nightly prayers I was laying there thinking about how good it felt to laugh together like that. It really did seem to relieve the tension of the past few weeks a little bit. It also felt nice to know that Matt and I could still be like that together. Sometimes with the responsibilities of life we sometimes forget to just enjoy each other and be friends. I honestly believe that Matt is my best friend. Last night really showed me how important laughter is in a marriage. Even though it was really dumb and silly, it was just what I needed. Even though my problems haven't changed I feel better somehow...



Also I read this Bible verse this morning, it was a nice little reminder:

"Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."

I Peter 4:9-10

My Baby is Amazing!

I know I have been silent for too long. My life seems like it's been pretty crazy lately. I haven't read anybodies blog in a long time. Someday I will take the time to catch up on every body's lives! Right now I decided to take a little extra time from the crazies of my life to thank the Lord for my amazing baby!

I have said it many times, but I really believe that the Lord looked down on us and saw that we really couldn't handle a difficult baby, and he blessed us with Zaccheus! He is SUCH a good baby, I am often amazed by it! It's not like he never cries, but when he does, there's something I can do about it! He really is a blessing from the Lord! So why am I blogging about this now?...

Last night I didn't get much sleep. I feel like a walking zombie today. Zaccheus had a restless night. I really think he was running a slight fever. He seems fine today, by the way. So what is so amazing about staying up all night with a baby who doesn't feel good you say? Just that, he was only restless and a little whiny. Enough so that Mommy couldn't get much sleep, but not so much that he drove me crazy with his cries when there wasn't really anything I could do for him.

So even though I didn't get much sleep last night. I am not as grumpy and stressed out as I would normally be after a night of staying up with a baby who doesn't feel well. For that I am truly thankful! I am, however, hoping that I can get a little more sleep tonight ;D !!!

My diaper Bag

Here are some pictures of the diaper bag that I made for myself! I like it! I would have liked it to be a little bigger, but since I made it from jeans, it had to be a certain size.

Let it be none that I do not like this picture of me! But it shows my bag pretty good.

This is the inside view!

Here is a close up of the front.

We have 2 sisters here who are expecting babies, and I plan to make them each a bag. I thought I would make one and see how good it does on ebay. Also, my sister sells her Avon stuff at a flea market & said that if I ever wanted to try to sell my bags there I could, or she could try to sell them for me. If I can get some made up I might try that. Miminko Apparel where I have my blankets for sell said they might check out about selling these bags next month. I really enjoy making these bags, it would be nice if I could make a little bit of money from them! With the small jean scraps that I have from making the bags I'm making a crazy quilt bag. I will have to post pictures when I get it done. It will be awhile though because I'm doing fancy embroidery on it. I'm thinking when I get it done I will keep it for myself! I think it will look really neat!

Late Night Smoothie

The other night I was looking at the strawberries I had picked from my strawberry patch; trying to decide what to do with them. Then I noticed the one lonely banana sitting on my counter that needed to be used. I thought maybe I could make a smoothie, but the fruit wasn't frozen. I de-stemmed the berries, peeled the banana & put them in the freezer for a little while. This is the recipe we came up with: It was REALLY good!

1-2 cups strawberries
1 banana
1 small tub of Tillamook orange cream yogurt (not frozen
2 dreamscicles (for those of you who don't know, this is vanilla ice-cream covered with orange sherbet type stuff) We, of course, pulled the sticks out first!

We blended everything together, along with a small amount of milk to help it blend better. It was yummy!